Privacy‑focused alternatives to big tech companies – a personal tour of European solutions
When I first started looking for ways to shrink my digital footprint, I quickly realized that most of the services we rely on — search, email, cloud storage, even navigation — are dominated by a handful of U.S. giants whose business models thrive on data harvesting. Luckily, Europe has cultivated a vibrant ecosystem of privacy‑focused tools that not only respect user rights but also keep your data under jurisdictions with stronger data‑protection laws. Below is a quick guide to some of my favorite home‑grown options, grouped by the everyday tasks they replace.
Communication & Collaboration
For secure email and calendar management, Proton Mail and Proton Calendar (Switzerland) sit comfortably alongside Germany’s Tuta Mail and Tuta Calendar, both built on end‑to‑end encryption and GDPR‑compliant servers. If you need a messenger that doesn’t sell metadata, you can give SimpleX Chat, Element, Session, or Threema a try — they each offer decentralized or federated architectures that keep conversations private. Developers can move their code repositories from GitHub/GitLab to Codeberg or Forgejo, two German‑hosted Git platforms that run on open‑source software and respect contributors’ anonymity.
Productivity & Creativity
Switching from Microsoft Office? The LibreOffice suite (Germany) delivers a fully featured, open‑source alternative that works on all major operating systems. For note‑taking, Standard Notes and Joplin provide encrypted notebooks that sync across devices without exposing your thoughts to advertisers. Collaborative editing can be handled in Cryptpad, a Swiss‑run online office suite where every document is encrypted in the browser before it ever touches a server, or in Proton Docs if you're already using their products.
Security & Identity
Password and 2FA management is another area where privacy matters. KeePassXC, Proton Pass, Passbolt, Proton Authenticator, and Aegis Authenticator let you store credentials locally or in zero‑knowledge vaults. For DNS filtering and VPN protection, consider Quad9 (a non‑profit DNS resolver) together with Mullvad VPN, Proton VPN, and IVPN, which operate under strict no‑logs policies and are headquartered in Sweden, Switzerland, and Gibraltar respectively. And if you need email aliases to avoid spam when buying something online or registering an account on a website you don't know, definitely check SimpleLogin, addy.io, and AliasVault.
Navigation, Search & Media
If you’re tired of Google Maps tracking your every move, try OsmAnd, Organic Maps (or CoMaps), or Magic Earth, all of which draw on OpenStreetMap data and run offline‑first. Eco‑conscious searching is possible with Ecosia, Mojeek, or Startpage, each offering privacy‑preserving results without profiling. For video hosting, PeerTube lets creators publish content on federated instances, while Qobuz offers high‑resolution music streaming without the invasive recommendation engines or AI-generated tracks of mainstream services, all while paying artists a much better remuneration than Spotify and YouTube Music.
Storage, Hosting & Browsing
When it comes to cloud storage, services like Filen, Koofr, Cryptee, and Nextcloud give you encrypted file syncing under European jurisdiction, sometimes with optional self‑hosting. Pair those with Cryptomator for client‑side encryption, and you’ve got a truly private backup pipeline. Finally, for browsing, Vivaldi, Mullvad Browser (both built on Chromium but stripped of telemetry), and Zen Browser provide a comfortable, customizable experience while keeping your browsing habits out of corporate hands. Domain registration and web hosting can be securely managed through Infomaniak, a Swiss provider known for its robust privacy guarantees, or with Greenhost, OrangeWebsite and FlokiNET, which are based in the Netherlands, the UK, and Iceland, respectively.
Swapping out the familiar names of Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and Amazon isn’t a radical leap — it’s a series of small, intentional choices that collectively restore control over our digital lives. By embracing these European‑based, privacy‑first alternatives, you not only protect your own data but also support a market that values transparency, security, and user sovereignty. Give a few of them a spin; you might find that the “big tech” you miss was never essential after all.
To go even further, you can use the No tracking and Privacy-focused tags, as well as the country of origin filter, on all AlternativeTo pages, to narrow down your search and find exactly what you've been looking for. For example, a search using the privacy-focused tags and European origin filter for Google Maps can help find more quickly a suitable solution for your need. And you can do that with all kinds of tags, pricing options, countries of origin, and platforms, on the whole website.
